The doctor will see you now - Which Medical School Should You Apply To >>

Child criminal psychologist

What would be the best way to become a child criminal psychologist. I want to do a combined degree of psychology and maybe criminology or psychology and early childhood or psychology and childhood and youth and then maybe a masters in whatever subject I don’t do so for example criminology and psychology masters in early childhood. But I was wondering if this is even the best approach

Reply 1

Interrobang

There isn't a job title of that, your best bet would be training as either a clinical or forensic psychologist, although educational psychologists can also do some work related to youth justice

Reply 2

University of Salford Student Rep

Official Rep

Hi there @nicmad. 😊

BSc Psychology and Criminology student here! 😄 great that you have a good idea of your interests so far. I've found navigating the psychology career path world can all get quite confusing so I'll try break things down for you a little...

There's a few routes to get to this sort of area, as a qualified psychologist. A criminal psychologist is known as a forensic psychologist, and you would apply your knowledge to children and young people in a job role where you worked with children. In a similar way, educational psychologists work more specifically with children and you could then apply your knowledge and skills in a job working with offenders, for example within a youth offending team. This can keep going however and you could qualify as a psychologist in many different psychology fields, such as clinical, counselling, health, etc., and then apply this in a job role working more specifically with offenders or young people.

•

For example, HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) are the agency responsible for prisons/probation/youth custody services in the UK and a potential employer as a Forensic Psychologist. They employ forensic psychologists, and also clinical, counselling, health, educational and occupational psychologists. I'll link a page from them here discussing the forensic psychologist role.

This can get quite confusing I know. Think of it like you will qualify as a psychologist in whichever field you choose (forensic, educational, clinical, counselling, health, etc.) and you will gain job roles and experience in areas which interest you...which is how you shape your career.

•

The British Psychological Society (BPS) website can be a great source for understanding the different recognised fields. I will link their 'Career options in psychology' page here, have a browse through each of the psychologist role options, I particularly like the 'career map' PDF they include at the bottom of each of these pages. I also really recommend exploring the rest of the website too.

Now some tips for your first steps with the education route 👩*🎓 To obtain the title and become qualified as a psychologist you need to complete undergraduate and postgraduate education all the way up to doctorate level (a PhD). For now, you'd be focusing on:
1️⃣ Completing an undergraduate degree in psychology, accredited by the BPS.
2️⃣ Completing a masters degree in a more specialised area (e.g. forensic psychology), accredited by the BPS.

For your interests it could be worth looking for a psychology undergraduate degree which involves something to do with children and young people as I know there are some joint courses out there. You could also do something like my course (linked here) to incorporate some extra learning around criminology. I like this because it gives me a wider understanding of the issues and factors involved with criminality, offenders and victims. However, a psychology degree will still cover everything you need and many incorporate optional modules which may interest you, I know here at UoS we get to choose four modules for third year - have a good search on UCAS and then check out some course pages and module options to see if the content they cover interests you 😊

Hopefully that all helps a little...it sounds like you are at the start of your education journey right now so don't let all the options overwhelm you! Psychology as a topic is great as it is so versatile and customisable and there are lots of different paths and opportunities that may come up for you along the way. Focus on completing your undergraduate degree and you can figure out the rest from there 🎓️

All the best, happy learning!

Becky
University of Salford Student Rep

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Articles for you

Personal Statement:Psychology c800

Personal Statement:Psychology and criminology 3

How The Student Room is moderated

To keep The Student Room safe for everyone, we moderate posts that are added to the site.

Try out the app

Continue on web